Ad Astra :: Star Trek Fanfiction Archive ^{Beam me up, Scotty.}

Chapter Text

The Star Beagle Adventures                                                
Episode 12: Close to the Edge Part I - The Solid Time of Change
Scene 8: Just a Taste

Close to the edge, just by a river…

12.8
Just a Taste

“That’s interesting,” Master Chief Bill Waller commented. “They didn’t do a thing until the dogfish started mining. Now they’re drifting away…”

“Bill, I think you may be turning into a scientist,” Captain Rhonda Carter teased. “That’s the sort of thing the scientists say all the time… That’s weird… That’s interesting…”

“I think it’s the micro-transporters,” Waller said. “The dogfish are mining using their micro-transporters. That’s why your lepreshrooms are drifting off. And why they don’t approach us.”

“They’re afraid,” General Krank concluded. “They may never have seen transporter technology before.” 

“Right,” Waller continued. “They weren’t afraid of the holy landers and their guns. Then Escort shows up and drinks the deuterium right out of the bellies of a bunch of their… um… Sporelings. Killing them in the process.”

“A brilliant, if rather ruthless tactic,” intoned Warrant Officer Seprek Harrison, a vulcan who had grown up in Phoenix, Arizona. Unlike the ship’s other vulcan, Harrison did not have a strong southern accent. At 94, he was the oldest member of Carter’s crew. At the moment, he was at the pilot’s station, but Harrison, like Waller, could work any station on the ship. “Hopefully one that our captain will not be court-marshaled for.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time,” Carter responded. “And I’ll take it as long as it gets my crew home alive and this ship home in one piece.”

“The probe is loaded, dogfish locked in and the probe is on its return… crap,” Waller reported.

“Bill?” Carter asked.

“It was too good to be true,” Waller replied. “They’re closing in on the probe.”

“Krank, what do you think about a warning shot now?”

“Unlikely to be effective,” the elderly general replied. “The holy landers tried that with the swarm that was following them with no noticeable effect.”

“I suggest we stall the probe, wait, and let them have their fill,” Warrant Officer Harrison offered.

Carter turned to look through her wraparound screen at the middle-aged vulcan. “You have a theory. Care to share it with the class?”

“The trace elements were scattered all over that asteroid. It wasn’t easy for the dogfish to collect them using their micro-transporters. It must have been extremely frustrating to those,” Seprek Harrison paused dramatically before using the name Rhonda Carter had given to the creatures. He drew a breath, then continued: “Lepreshrooms. More than what they need all in one rock, but nearly impossible for them to mine…”

“Both the fungi have penetrated the probe and are now removing the ore,” Bill Waller reported. Then: “Huh. They barely took any. Now they’re drifting away again. There’s still more than what we need on that probe.”

“Get that probe back here and onboard before any other of these guys show up,” Carter ordered.

“Yes ma’am. Bringing the probe back now, maximum sublight.”

Carter turned toward Harrison again. “How did you know?”

“I didn’t,” Harrison responded. “But I surmised that their method for traveling at warp probably wasn’t much different from ours, which would mean they would need similar materials. But a much smaller amount, given their much smaller mass. Too much of these metals would be toxic to them. So I suspected they would take only what they needed and leave the rest for us.”

Captain Carter made an amused noise. “I think Sakura would tell you to write it up and submit your conjecture for peer review.”

“I was considering it,” the vulcan warrant officer admitted.

“Consider it an order,” Carter replied.

12.8